photo-litho



wig/fi.

/79227000 Fafmw/m/j.

FII

entran srarns narnia" anion.

E. M. MIX AND J. E. MIX, OF ITHACA, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOHS TO THEMSELVES AND C. D. JOHNSON, OF SAME PLACE.

PADLOCK.

Specification. of Letters Patent No. 22,000, dated November 2, 1858.

T 0 all whom fil may concern.'

Be it known that we, E. M. Mix and J. E. Blix, of Ithaca, in the county of Tompkins and State of New York, have invented a new and mproved Lock; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, isan internal view of our invention the front plate of the casing being removed. Fig. 2, is a section of ditto, taken in the line w, Fig. l. Fig. 3, is a detached view of the key of ditto.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in the employment or use of a dog and a series oit curved tumblers constructed and arranged as hereinafter fully shown and described so as to render the lock extremely ditiicult to pick or be opened by any instrumentother than the proper key.

The invention is more especially applicable to padlocks although it may be applied to other forms of locks.

, To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct our invention we will proceed to describe it.

A, represents the case of a padlock which may be constructed in the usual form.

B, is the shackle attached to the case and arranged in the ordinary way.

lVithin the case A, a series of tnmblers a, are placed. These tumblers are formed ot metal plates or strips curved or bent in U- form and secured in the case A, by a pin or axis on which the tumblers are allowed to work freely, the pin or axis passing through the tumblers at or near their centers so that an equal prong is left each side of the pin or axis Z), as shown clearly in Fig. 1. rlhe majority ot the tumblers a, at one end are made square or Hat as shown at c, one or two however may be pointed as shown at cl. The opposite ends of the tumblers are provided each with' a project-ing port-ion e, which extend inward toward the center of the case, said projections being ot varying lengths as shown clearly in Fig. 2.

C, represents a series of springs which are placed on a rod f, and have their lower ends bearing against the tumblers a., one spring bearing against each tumbler. The springs C, have a tendency to keep the tnmblers pressed against one side of the case A, as shown clearly in Fig. l.

The tumblers a, do not all coincide in form. Some are bent rather more than others, or have their outer ends more distended. rlhe ends c, therefore of the tumblers have an irregular position wien the springs C, are allowed to act against them. This is clearly shown in Fig. l.

D, represents a dog which is placed on a pivot g, in the case A. The dog is placed between the two ends of the tumblers a, and has three arms zf, z', j. A spiral spring L", bears against the arm h, of the dog and keeps a project-ion Z, on said arm into a notch m, in the end of the shackle B. The arm z', bears on the ends c, of the tumblers, said tumblers preventing the casual movement of the dog and keeping the lock in a locked state.

From the above description it will be seen that in order to unlock the lock the arm 7L, ot the dog D, must be allowed to move back free from the notch m, in the shackle, and in order to permit this, the ends C, of the tumblers a., must be moved out from underneath the arm z', ot the dog so that the arm` e', may move down below the ends c. At the same time the opposite ends, the projections c, must be kept free from the arm j. In order therefore to eiect a proper movement of the tumblers, a key E, is provided with bits a, of varying lengt-hs corresponding to the varying positions ot the ends c, of the tumblers, a, and by inserting the key E, in the lock and turning it so that its bits a, will act against the tumblers a, below the ends c, said ends will be brought in line with each other and also the ends of the projections c, and both the ends c, and projections e, will be free from the arms z', j, of the dog D, and the shackle B, may be withdrawn from the case A.

In the case A, two pins 0, o, are placed, said pins controlling or limiting the movement of the key. lVhen the key is in the lock and its bits a, bear against the tumblers a, as shown in red Fig. l, the tumblers a, are inoperative and the dog D, then serves the purpose of a catch, the dog preventing the shackle from being casually removed from the case A, but still allowing the shackle to be withdrawn when pulled outward.

It will be seen that in order to open the lock, the tumblers require each to be moved or turned on the aXis Z), a certain distance in order to bring their ends 0, in line, and out from underneath the arm z', of the dog, the distance varying with each tumbler, and as some of the tumblers may be out at all times from the dog as shown at d, these latter tumblers serve to increase the difliculty of picking the lock, for if acted upon by a pick or other instrument, other than the proper key, they will be then in contact with the dog, and prevent it being moved so as to release the shackle B.

We are aware that curved or bent tumblers have been used similar or equivalent to the ones herein described, but so far as we are aware the tumblers have acted directly upon the bolt or shackle serving as catches as well as tumblers, no dog being employed. In locks of this class therefore a direct pressure of the bolt or shackle is readily obtained 0n the tumblers, and the lock more liable to be picked. In our improvement the dog D, be-

ing interposed between the tumblers, and

shackle the difficulty of picking the lock is greatly augmented. l

We would remark that although we have described the invention as applied to a padlock, still the tumblers and dog may be applied to an ordinary slide bolt lock with equal facility and in a manner that will suggest itself to any lock-smith.

7e do not claim separately the curved tumblers a, for they or their equivalents have been previously used; but,

lVe claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

The combination of the curved or bent tumblers a, and dog D, provided respectively with springs C, 7c, and arranged relatively with the bolt or shackle B, to operate as and for the purpose set forth.

E. M. MIX. J. E. MIX.

Witnesses EDWIN MIX, GEO. E. SHEPARD. 

